How I Will Help

What do I do to help you? I spend the first few sessions listening very carefully to why you have come for help. After a couple of sessions, I have recommendations as to what kind of help is best suited for you and we discuss my recommendations. It can be PSYCHOTHERAPY. Sometimes I also recommend MEDICATION.

What is PSYCHOTHERAPY?

Psychotherapy is talk therapy. It entails meeting with a skilled therapist who can both listen carefully and provide insights There are various forms of psychotherapy: short term or long-term CBT ( cognitive behavioral therapy ) or Dynamic Psychotherapy.

Both CBT and dynamic psychotherapy focus on self-destructive patterns of thoughts. However in dynamic psychotherapy, there is the additional idea that there are unconscious forces that maintain the self-destructive patterns of thinking and behaving. The work of the psychotherapy is both to change patterns of self-destructive thinking AND discover the unconscious roots of the problems.

How does Psychotherapy help

You will feel safe very quickly and will be able to open up. The very fact of opening up to a non-judgmental other is in itself an enormous relief. Research has shown that the relationship with the therapist is %50 of the improvement. A skilled therapist is also able to provide insights that lead you to discover patterns of relating and thinking that were previously out of your awareness. It is these patterns that need to be addressed and resolved.

If the problems are deep seated and long standing, PSYCHOANALYSIS can become the treatment of choice. The method is the same as psychotherapy except that the patient and therapist meet as much as 4 times a week. The use of the couch is recommended.

Medication

In certain instances it can be very helpful to also use medication. Alone or in combination with the talk therapy. There are now powerful anti anxiety and antidepressant medications that can help in recovery.